Emily in India

After the day trip in Mysore, I was ready to get out of the city, out of the hustle and bustle. Fortunately, some other rotationals were interested in that, too. We planned a weekend trip to Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu. We were hoping to take a night train, to have that experience, but apparently the trains get booked months in advance. So, we resorted to a sleeper bus. A sleeper bus is relatively common in India since traveling at night is very common in India.

After work on Friday night, I was in my room finishing up packing when I got a phone call from an unknown India number. I answered and eventually made out that the guy was from the bus company and he was emphatically explaining that the bus would be arriving early. Like, 15 minutes from then, early. I texted my fellow travelers, and we all started scrambling to leave 30 minutes early. Me and the Annas (two Annas, one from US, the other from UK) loaded my driver’s car (the others in another car) and we took us to HSR Layout to meet the bus. We saw a few buses come and go before ours arrived, right on time, not one minute earlier than the scheduled time. I loaded, found my bed on the bottom floor at the very back of the bus. I got comfortable and we took off.

The bus was wildly wobbly, even from the bottom level. UK Anna was above me and I wondered how she was keeping from rolling right off her bad. Turns out, it was very hard not to! The bed was clean and comfortable, with shades for privacy. I took some motion sickness medication, put headphone in and TTPD on, texted with Bry, and went to sleep. A few hours in, we took a bathroom stop. Unloaded the bus to stretch our legs, get some fresh air, and then loaded right back up. I fell back asleep easily and 5 or so hours later, woke again after the sun had risen. Based on the timing, I assumed we were really close to our stop. We took another bathroom stop and there I learned that we were many hours away, still. But the sun was shining, we were in the crisp clean cool mountain air, and there was green all around. This is exactly what I needed.

A few hours later, we arrived! A driver took us to the Airbnb we had rented for the weekend. We went for the bougie option because it was still very inexpensive and had amaaaaazing views. And the views did not disappoint. The house was huge and every bedroom had a panoramic view of a huge valley filled with life. There were green trees and houses spread across the mountain. UK Anna and I shared a room that even had a balcony!

We got settled, took long naps, and then went for an explore. Ubers were not available and it was a beautiful day so we decided to walk into town. We walked up a steep hill outside of the house, stopped at a nearby corner chai shop for chai, wound down down down neighborhood streets, stopped at a convenient store (like the ONLY proper convenient store I’ve ever seen in India) for snacks, and made our way to town. Just like everywhere in India, the place was lively. People everywhere, cows all along the street, and a dog that picked us up at the chai shop and only left us as we all got temporary tattoos on the side of the street.

We found a delicious India dinner at a local, multi-cuisine place called Petey’s and then a car to take us back to the house. When we arrived, the houseman had started a bonfire for us and it was the perfect night for one. With their beer and my snacks, we all headed to the fire, still being stoked to life. At one point, one of the housemen brought a squeeze bottle out of his pocket and started spraying the fire with gasoline. Absolutely wild. The fire got good and big and we were left to talk, tell stories, and laugh. It was a nice evening.

The next morning, we slept in and breakfast was brought to us at the house. Then we were off for a trek to Dolphin’s Nose (none of us knew what to expect but this was one of the local hikes that was reasonably close and not too long). The one lane mountain roads put me right back in Kashmir and our driver had to get out multiple times to direct traffic so that cars could pass on one side, then the other side would get their chance. We drove through a little town and stopped by a little gift shop and restaurant. Right in between the two buildings was a downward path – our trail head. It wasn’t super steep at first but it was very rocky – so there was a lot of bracing and making sure no ankles were turned. We got to the first viewpoint on the hike and all we could see was WHITE. White fog coated anything worth viewing but the fog itself was pretty cool. The hike got steeper and the forest was so eery with the tall skinny trees and dense fog. I made it to Dolphin’s Nose, couldn’t see anything and headed back up.

Shortly after starting the ascent, the rain started. At first it was light, and we kept moving. But then it really started coming down so we ducked into a shoe store on the side of the trail (yes, you read that right) – we were near town but wanted to wait out the rain. Eventually it slowed enough for us to run out and hurry back up to the town/ road. On the hunt for chai, we came across a Waffle shop. I shop that makes alllll sort of waffles – Belgian, regular, Snickers, peanut butter, Oreo, Nutella, etc etc etc. Heaven! I had a hot chocolate and peanut butter smothered waffles. We finished with some local shopping, walked through a local garden, and went for lunch.

The rain continued all night so dinner was brought to us and we retreated to the common balcony to play Spoons and Pass the Pig. Another great night.

The next day was Monday and I had to work. Technically, we all had to work but the others took off early to go explore local caves while I stayed back. It was rainy and foggy with clouds moving across the sky all day. Majestic. It was a good quiet day – I got some alone time that I needed by that point.

That night, we loaded our stuff back into the car and in to town for a sleeper bus to take us back to Bangalore. I was starving by this point – they had all had lunch but I had not and knew that I needed to eat dinner before getting on the bus. As we pulled into town, a Dominos Pizza sat right in front of us so I ran over to order pizza. We had 20 minutes until the bus was leaving and the woman taking my order said it would be at least 30 minutes for the pizza. At 400 rupees (less than $5) for a personal sized cheese pizza, I was willing to take my chances. As I paid for the order, a guy was standing next to me, holding 2 pizza boxes saying to another Dominos employee that his friends had already left, they were gone and couldn’t get their pizza. Thinking fast and before the employee took the pizza back (looking very confused and unsure about what to do with the pizzas), I asked him what kinds of pizzas he had and whether I could have them since they were otherwise going to waste. He agreed and I returned to the group a successful forager – with a chicken pizza for them to share and a veg pizza all for myself.

The bus arrived, we loaded, found our beds, and woke up in Bengaluru.